Democrats. Do you feel that the party has turned into something different than that of JFK & Bobby Kennedy?
In what way do you feel it has changed?
In what way do you feel it has changed?
?
Favorite Answer
@Mr. Spiffy
"JFK advocated low taxes and minimal government spending..."
Let's go back to JFK tax rates! Hell, let's go back to the Reagan's tax rates!
@vekket
"That's an odd question, I don't know of any democrats that served in a war, much less wore a uniform."
John Kerry, Randi Rhodes (technically she's a Liberal) was in the Navy, FDR (the father of modern Liberalism), Al Gore, and many many others....
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=116x8946
- 17R3W
Andy F
I wish it would change, not sure it has.
John F. Kennedy for all his "liberal" rhetoric was the President who first got the US involved quite heavily in Vietnam. He allowed anti-Castro Cubans to mount an attempted invasion of Cuba from the United States, even if he didn't provide air cover for the Bay of Pigs invasion.
JFK in campaigning for office in 1960 also criticized the Eisenhower administration for supposedly allowing a "missile gap" to develop between the US and the Soviet Union -- which was effectively a lie, since the fact was that the US was light-years ahead of the Russians in terms of nuclear armaments.
In short, JFK was a Democratic war hawk, although a personally charismatic one. He also was the first US president since before the Great Depression who tried to promote economic growth by slashing income taxes for US corporations -- thus paying the way for Ronald Reagan and George Bush to do the same thing later, on a bigger scale.
Bobby Kennedy reportedly discovered rather late in life that he actually had a conscience, and he actually cared somewhat about the poor. That's great, but he started his career as an assistant to Roy Cohn, the notoriously unscrupulous and ruthless counsel for the bogus anti-Communist crusader Joe McCarthy.
I think the Democratic Party has gotten better in some ways since the Kennedy years. But Democrats are still trying to prove how tough & patriotic & "manly" they are by launching stupid & unnecessary American wars in the Third World. That's one part of the Kennedy legacy that the Democrats ought to drop.
Anonymous
JFK fought socialism. Democrat party today is socialist. They couldnt be more opposites.
isurvived
Thankfully, yes. Liberalism doesn't rest with one person or with one family, it's a set of ideals of how society should operate. This isn't the 60s anymore. A different world with different challenges.
Anonymous
JFK would be considered a Republican by today's standards.
He thought America was great andworth fighting for...Dems of today think America is bad, and should give free handouts to illegals.
Mind boggling.